A proposed signal junction for the Thomas Rd and Gordonton Rd intersection. Photo / Hamilton City Council
A proposed signal junction for the Thomas Rd and Gordonton Rd intersection. Photo / Hamilton City Council
Police believe the car involved in a fatal crash at a notorious intersection in Hamilton last night was turning across the path of traffic when it was hit by an oncoming vehicle.
The deceased was a passenger in the car turning right from Gordonton Rd into Thomas Rd on the outskirts of the city at 7.20pm.
A police spokeswoman said initial indications are that a vehicle tried to turn right into Thomas Rd and was struck by the oncoming car.
"A passenger from the turning vehicle has died at the scene. Several other occupants from the vehicles were taken to hospital with injuries ranging from moderate to serious."
A resident whose property backs on to the T-junction heard a loud bang and watched as emergency services arrived en masse.
Shweta Mahajan said the crash scene was intense with police, fire and ambulance staff at the site for several hours afterwards.
Mahajan said she and her husband had witnessed five crashes including last night's, at the black spot in the three months they have lived in the neighbourhood.
Her husband had even called 111 for one of the minor crashes.
She said it was hard to determine the make and model of the cars because they were extensively damaged.
Mahajan said her husband used the intersection every morning and the couple did not find it dangerous.
"Your view is not blocked, you can actually see quite clearly the cars coming from both directions."
However she said it was difficult to judge how fast motorists were travelling on Gordonton Rd, an 80km/h road that feeds traffic into the city from the north.
The speed on Gordonton Rd was reduced to a variable speed of 60km/h in October last year, meaning drivers get a warning to reduce to the lower speed if cars are detected on residential Thomas Rd.
Hamilton City Council approved a $2 million upgrade of the intersection including the installation of lights this October. A $4m roundabout was seen as too costly.
Hamilton city councillor Mark Bunting called the death a tragedy and said the traffic lights couldn't come soon enough.
Bunting called the intersection "horrible" and a perfect storm for several reasons.
"First of all when you come out into the intersection from Thomas Rd, you're sort of sitting in the middle of the road already if you look at it from above.
"And your perception is kind of a bit torn because you're actually looking head-on at these cars [on Gordonton Rd] and you don't have a perception of relativity or speed because they're coming straight toward you rather than across your vision.
"And secondly you're coming from a 50km/h zone going to an 80km/h zone so you assume other traffic is going as slow as you and you've got as much space and you haven't."
Add to that a difficult camber on the sweeping bend and in last night's case, it was dark too, Bunting said.
The Gordonton Rd/Thomas Rd T-junction on the outskirts of Hamilton where another fatal crash happened. Photo / Thomas Rowland
There have been 15 crashes at the site since January last year and four more since the variable speed signs were introduced up until February this year. At least one other crash has been fatal.
"The bottom line is you put a temporary measure in and people get numb to it. It's like road cone blindness," Bunting said.
"I was driving through that intersection yesterday and holy moly, people aren't slowing down even though it says 60, they're just ignoring it.
"People know it's not going to get enforced. That's why we've had to take such drastic structural measures."
Traffic at the intersection has increased in recent years because of the growth of the north Hamilton suburbs including Rototuna, Huntington, St James and the lifestyle blocks of Puketaha and Gordonton.
Councillor James Casson said the fatal was gutting because the council had worked hard to improve safety at the intersection including speeding up the time it takes to make road safety changes.
He said the aim is to make the whole of Gordonton Rd from Wairere Rd to Boreman Rd - taking in the Thomas Rd intersection - 60km/h when the traffic lights are installed.
Meanwhile the Serious Crash Unit is still investigating the crash.
The three injured taken to Waikato Hospital are stable and in a ward today, a spokeswoman confirmed.
